Youth Exploring Science - YES!

Fostering a young person's interest is very important for their personal growth and development. I believe it is especially true for young people in interested in science. More often than not, urban kids don't like science and don't usually wax poetic about science lessons.

So, when I came across the story of a Miss Lakisa McPike - a teenager from inner-city St. Louis, who loved science as a kid and how it shaped her career choices brought a smile to my face. Her mother helped cultivate her interest in science since she was young by buying her science books and kits beyond that of her school curriculum. Later she participated in an after-school program called Youth Exploring Science or YES! The program provides lots of great hands-on learning activities that allow youth to explore science topics and careers in depth.

When it was time for deciding on whatmajor in college Lakisa chose biology...and graduated magna cum laude. She will be atttending graduate school this fall and majoring in medical sciences. Read more about Lakisa here.

Recycling for Cash - Earning Money this Summer

Recycling aluminum cans is a great way for kids to make money in the summer time. So many people are enjoying cold beverages so this is perfect time to collect heaps of cans. Ask your neighbors and family members if you can have their cans. Visit local parks and collect discarded cans. You’ll score heaps of can following BBQ and other get-togethers.

Collecting aluminum cans is a good deed all around – for the environment and for you. You’re helping to clean up your neighborhood and parks. You can log a number community service hours for school and/or clubs. And you can earn a lot of money. Plus, it looks great on college applications. This is a perfect way for younger kids to make money this summer. In fact, I did it myself when I was nine years old. It felt great earning my own money!

The amount of money you earn depends on the weight of cans and the price varies. The more you bring in at a time the more you earn per pound. One web site lists offer prices up to .55 cents per pound for recycled aluminum cans.

Here’s what to do:
1. Let your family know you would like to collect cans this summer for money. Ask your parents for permission to store cans some place out of the way.
2. As you collect cans empty them of all liquids and rinse them out first if you can. This makes for a cleaner collection site and fewer ants and flies hovering around.
3. Crush the cans. This helps you get a higher volume of cans in your bag. Plus it gives you a more accurate idea of how heavy your bag of aluminum cans is.
4. When poking in the trash, be careful. Wear gloves or get a grabber.
5. Ask friends, neighbors, and family members to set aluminum cans to the side for you. Arrange for a time to pick them up.
6. Visit public areas during and after major events. You’re sure to collect lots of cans then.
7. Finally, recycling the whole can. The pull tabs have no special extra value; that’s an urban legend. So don’t bother pulling them off and collecting them separately. The recycler treats it all the same.

And depending on where you live, you may be able to collect other recyclables for money, such as glass and other metal containers.

Urban Environmental Science Program - Green Works of Kansas City

I was web-surfing (read procrastinating big time - not working on my dissertation like I was supposed to) and came across this gem -- Green Works for Kansas City.

Assuming I am comprehending what I am reading right, then this organization is all about exploring urban environmental science issues in Kansas City and promoting Green Collar job opportunities for inner-city youth. Ya'll know how much I love that!

A flagship program of Green Works KC is ECOS - Environmental Stewardship and Workforce Development. Students, excuse me for my school jargon, or rather participants explore environmental science topics like water filtration, public sewage and waste management, urban deforestation, recycling, and other environmental matters that impact their city.

Wow, I'm on the other side of the state, but if and when I get out that way, I will definitely look them up. I think it is a great model for agencies interested in Green Collar Job development.

Movie Recommendation: Hoot - an adventure in urban ecology & conservation

I watched the movie Hoot the other day. I loved it, as I suspected I would.
The movie involves 3 main characters – teens who are trying to save a protected species of Burrowing Owls from an impending construction projects.

What I really like about the movie:
1. It features teens being involved and caring and taking action – not being passive. They are civically engaged.
2. It showcases the beauty of nature right in front of us and encourages people to pay attention and enjoy it.
3. It introduces young people to the concept of conservation.

But it also include some of the typical (read corny) story line of the smart kid being bullied, the bully being some overweight and unintelligent heel, the cool but rebellious troublemaker, and the smart but very mean girl. Also, one of the main characters is a serious rule breaker, despite having the best intentions and passion to care – he’s an eco-vandal or eco-avenger. For the sake of the natural resources he disrupts the building site, vandalizes the builders equipment, etc. I so relate to this kid. Who doesn’t want to undermine evil corporations who exploit land, water, plant and animal resources? But I digress.

It’s a great DVD to own for kids to watch over and over again. Plus, the bonus features include educational and service projects related to conservation and environmental education presented by the National Wildlife Federation. NWF is the educational partner for the film. I've updated my blog roll to include links to this amazing organization. Be sure to browse their site - lots of great ideas for community service projects and learning activities!

So 2 big thumbs up for this movie and the service learning projects they encourage.

PhD Position in Urban Ecology

Okay, this is way down the line for my target audience, but hey I believe in dangling carrots to inspire and motivate learners. Plus, it offers some detail about what real urban ecology research is all about.

The candidate will investigate the effect of fragmentation on spatial patterns of selected species and invertebrate communities in urban environments; radio-track hedgehogs; sample and identify flying and ground-dwelling invertebrates such as bees, carabid beetles or snails; analyze their functional assemblage with uni- and multivariate techniques and publish the results in international journals.

Detailed project information is available at: http://www.cces.ethz.ch/projects/sulu/ENHANCE
(project module 2, task 4).

Details about the application are available from:
http://www.telejob.ch/telejob/offer.xml?offer=11376

specifically:
http://www.wsl.ch/info/stellen/547e.pdf
(Do not send applications by email!)

Dr. Martin K. Obrist
Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL
Biodiversity and Conservation Biology
CH-8903 Birmensdorf, Switzerland

Keep E-Waste Out of Landfills

Some things just don’t belong in a landfill, no matter what. Disposed electronics and batteries that operate them are classic examples – some people call it e-waste. These materials just don’t degrade – they are not BIOdegradable. I other words, they aren’t made of organic or once living materials. Electronics are made of plastics, glass, and wires made from heavy metails . Leaving them exposed to wind, sun and water won’t deteriorate them like wood, and batteries are the worse. They leak materials in the soil that literally poisons the earth. Electronic waste accounts for 70 percent of the overall toxic waste that you currently find in landfills. In addition to valuable metals like aluminum, electronics often contain hazardous materials like lead and mercury. The best thing to do is recycle the materials, but I know that’s not easy to do. Our “easy” lifestyles actually make it hard to do the right thing.

Don’t throw away
· Old TVs, radios
· Telephones, cellular phones, answering machines, fax machines
· Computers, computer screens, scanners
· Cameras, digital recorders, camcorders, tape recorders
· Compact fluorescent light bulbs
· Batteries – no matter what size from watch batteries to car batteries
· Paint
What to do instead
· Consider fixing it, upgrading it and keep using it
· Donate it
· Recycle it
· Drop it off at a proper facility, often a municipally managed program


Visit Earth911 and you can tell them where you live what you have to throw away and it will list nearby recycling facilities.
Call your city waste office and they can tell you proper ways to dispose of these items. Some cities have special drop-off centers and pick up days for “special trash”.
Visit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to learn more about e-waste and how to properly dispose of it.

Happy World Environment Day!

photo credit responsiblechina.com

Prolonging Landfill Life

Landfills only have a finite amount of space to hold trash and that means they can only last so long. One thing cities are trying to do is prolong the life of landfills.

Traditional landfills compact the trash to get more trash in a limited amount of space. The downside is that this reduces the oxygen in the ground which reduces the decomposition rate of the trash. This means it takes even longer for the trash to decompose. One answer to this problem is the Bioreactor Landfill. The bioreactor speeds up the decomposition rate so that the trash breaks down faster and makes room for more trash in the landfill.

But there are many efforts to keep things out of the landfill in the first place. And that starts with each of us.

#1: Precycling. Become more conscious of waste before we make it. Better than disposable, use re-usable supplies. For example, instead of paper towels and napkins use cloth napkins and towels. Use real dishes and utensils instead of paper plates and plastic cutlery. Basically, think how our grandparents may have done it, before there were disposable items readily available. Bring your own bags to the store.

#2: Recycling or Relifing. Put things back in the supply line, not the landfill. Most everything is recyclable now – plastic (#1-7), aluminum cans, food cans, food boxes, even glass. Or donate these items to an Education Recycling center. Items like 2 –liter bottles and potato chip canisters get a new life in arts & crafts and education projects. This is especially great for businesses that have lots of stuff they can’t use – like old letter head or file folders or containers. Don’t dump them, donate them.

#3: Composting. This is definitely Environmentalism 400. There’s no use putting organic waste in the landfill. Compost it in your kitchen, yard or garden and return those nutrients to the soil. Food scraps, leftovers, egg shells, fruit peelings, bones, fat and grease are all organic food waste. With the help of earthworms, they’ll help you get rid of all of that mess.

Alright, do what you can to help us sustain our urban communities now and for the the future.

Filling up Landfills

Days ago, I introduced you to Landfills – what they are and how they work. Landfills are essentially big holes in the ground that are filled with our daily trash. But think about it. Americans generate millions of tons of trash every year. Wouldn’t we just run out of space? Yes, that is a risk. That’s why reduce-reuse-recycling and composting are encouraged, especially in big cities. If we are thoughtless about our trash, where it goes – then we aren’t thinking about the big picture. How much land are we using up for garbage dumps, which mean we can’t use it for housing, recreation, business or farming.

Landfills only last so long. An aging landfill is one that is reaching its Full Capacity. Once the landfill is full, it is closed. Today many cities are filling up their landfills faster than they expected. This is a big problem. Where do you find the space and place to put a new landfill? Would you want to live near a garbage dump, filled daily with fresh decomposing trash? No, I doubt if anyone would. That’s why they are often set on the outskirts of towns, away from people. But we’ve got to get rid of this trash. It is a big complicated problem.

This means the city stops delivering trash and covers up the landfill often with a layer of concrete or asphalt (to cap off the landfill) and then with layers of dirt. But the city is still responsible for monitoring the landfill for leachate, methane gas and other types of pollution. This means that even when it is closed, the landfill fill can’t be use to build anything on it for many years to come. It just sits there until we are sure (as we can be) that is safe for people and animals.

Here are photos of a closed landfill. It looks like a simple span of ground. It is, but there are no residences nearby and the most that can be done with this land is natural habitat restoration -- planting grasses, plants, and flowers.

In Memorium - Dr. Jerry O. Wolff

Dr. Jerry Wolff, of St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, recently passed away. He entered the Canyonlands National Park in Utah on Sunday, May 11, 2008 and did not return. For the last week, the National Park Service has mounted an intense and thorough search. Park rangers, l ocal police, as well as friends and family involved with the search, now presume him to be dead. His death at a healthy andyouthful 65, and at the peak of a prolific and successful career, represents a profound loss.

I met Dr. Wolff while I was in the middle of completing my Master's Degree in Biology at the University of Memphis. He was the new department chair, and like my lab, he also studied the behavioral ecology of microtine rodents. Though not officially on my committee, he was an important contributor to my research and my academic studies while at Memphis. In fact, I credit Jerry, aka Daddy Wolff, Slender Foot, preparing me for my very first presentation at a professional conference. He was a handful - terribly opinionated, smart and quick as hell, and let absolutely no one off the hook. But he lived and worked harder than anyone. This man could complete and write up a research experiment and have it off to press so fast it was amazing.

A few of us (grad students) quipped behind his back that he was "Big Pimping Spending the Cheese" (The Jay-Z and the UGK collaborative) because of his cool casual manner and his tight walk. He could stroll. But really, he just might be the Tupac of Animal Behavior research. He was a prolific writer. I bet he'll have papers being published left and right for the next 3-5 years.

But some authorities think the case seems peculiar and that he may have wanted to disappear, and though I find it awfully hard to believe, some suspect a possible wandering off or suicide. It's wide open now. I can just imagine the number of conference attendees and researchers claiming to have had Elvis-like Jerry Citings in the field.

In accordance with Jerry's wishes, there are no plans for a memorial service. To commemorate his passing, you could make a donation in his name to either the American Society of Mammalogists or to the Animal Behavior Society.


American Society of Mammalogists:
Dr. Thomas Kunz, kunz@bu.edu
Biology Department
Boston University
Boston, MA 02215

Animal Behavior Society:
Dr. Ira B. Perelle, IBP1@aol.com
Psychology Department
Mercy College
Patterson, NY 12563

Happy Trails, Jerry

Whales wash up on Senegal Beach

Okay, it's a break from the landfill and waste water theme. Here is some breaking biology and environmental news from Africa.

Bodies of at least 20 whales wash up on coast of Senegal

Thanks to the Sister #1 from the People Could Fly Project for passing on this story. She actually visited this beach before during an international trip.

Make your own model Landfill

Yesterday, I introduced you to landfills and how they are made. As trash breaks down a dangerous byproduct is produced - leacheate. Landfills not only must take care of trash, but it also must not pose other health and environmental threats, too.

Here is how a typical landfill is constructed.

So, a landfill must not let the liquid contaminants seep into the ground water or soil. Therefore, all landfills must be lined with either plastic or clay to prevent leachate pollution.

But which landfill liner is better? Which will successfully prevent leachate pollution? Clay or plastic?

Here's an activity you could do at home or with your youth group.

Supply List:

• transparent 2-liter soda bottles cut in half with cap
• 1 bag each of sand, gravel, topsoil, clay dirt
• plastic wrap
• food coloring - red or blue or green
• jug of water

Instructions:

• tap 3 holes in the bottle cap.
• replace the bottle cap on the bottle.
• after cutting the bottle in half place the top half of the bottle, cap-side-down, inside of the bottom half of the bottle.
• place your liner at the bottom. If plastic - lay it on the bottom and press flat. If clay, pack it down with your fingers.
• randomly select any or all three of the soils - sand, gravel, topsoil and begin layering the soils. be sure to pack them with your fingers. Or use the materials recommended on the cards.
• you can layer your soils as thick as you want and as few or many layers as you want.
• when you're down constructing your land fill, add a few drops of food coloring to your jusg of water. The colored water represents leacheate.
• pour the colored water into your landfill and watch how fast the water drains.

What happened? Did the leachate leak through?

Repeat the exercise and change your materials or do it with friends. What did others find? How do different landfills compare? Was using clay or a plastic liner the most effective way of preventing leachate pollution?

Throw it Away. Where is Away? Landfills.

What happens to you trash when you throw it away?”

Trash does not simply go away. Trash is taken to municipal landfills or dumps. Each day landfills receive trash, spread it out, and cover it with a layer of soil. Sometimes, the soil is mixed with sludge from sewers. However, the soil and trash layers are routinely compacted so as to use the space most effectively. Within the layers of soil trash is being decomposed. Compacting decreases the rate of decomposition of trash. Decomposition is the chemical breakdown of materials and requires air (oxygen) and water to hasten the process. Leachate and methane are two by-products of decomposition. Both are potentially hazardous and as a result landfills are regulated so as to reduce the negative impacts of these by-products. Leachate can potentially contaminate municipal water sources such as groundwater and aquifers, therefore all landfills must be lined with either plastic or clay to prevent leachate pollution.

Click on the image below to learn more about how landfills work.

Quick Tutorial in Urban Sewage Facilities

A great deal of our municipal taxes is dedicated to waste removal – garbage and sewage. And let’s be appreciative, it is one the most important technologies ever is municipal sewage facilities. Municipal sewage handling dates back to the Roman Empire. The Cloaca Maxima was a marvel. Using running water, the Romans were able to wash waste away from public baths and relief spots. Without technologies, societies use latrines or other set aside areas (read outhouse).

Thus sewer facilities are definitely an urban technology, and the most important technology benefiting human-kind. Urban areas, unlike rural or even traditional suburban areas, are densely populated – lots of people and buildings, all stacked up on each other. If we were still using a latrine system the situation would be bad – for us and the native wildlife with which we share this precious space. Thanks to waste handling technologies we have nipped diseases like cholera, typhoid, and dysentery in the bud. Societies with properly functioning waste water handling have virtually no incidences of these horrible diseases that claim countless lives each year. In fact, that’s what the cyclone victims in Burma must now contend with.

Thanks to How Stuff Works, you can read and see for yourself how Urban Wastewater Sewage Systems work.

Dealing with Waste & Sewage - the cost of "civilized" living

I'll dedicate the rest of the posts this month to how we deal with waste and how societies, particularly cities, deal with disposal and recycling of waste. Of special interest will be how we handle our own digestive waste and how digestive waste is also an important subtance to people and animals.

So an unofficial theme with month will be "May: it's all about the Poo and Garbage we think we leave behind".

What do we do with all of that Doo Doo?

There are many names for it – poop, manure, sludge, biosolids, compost, or humus, but all of it is the organic waste that’s left over. Especially important for the theme of my page is how do people live and interact with our environment and how do human societies (especially large cities) handle their waste and use our environment responsibly?

Municipalities handle waste water treatment. An important part is separating the solids from the liquids. But there are a lot of solids – called sludge after it has been separated and treated to kill any germs – and what happens with all of this poop? It can be disposed of on a landfill or applied to farm lands. Fertilizing farm lands is not much different than fertilizing gardens or lawns. In fact, the treated poopy water, called recycled water, is sometimes used to water lawns (an effort to save good clean drinking water for people).

The recent events about using sewer sludge in a science study have caused much attention, especially among activists. Based on the majority of reactions, I realize ‘re-using the stinky stuff’ seems to have most people turning up their noses (pun intended). It just seems to me that people are really surprised (and offended) by the ‘re-use’ of waste in this situation. But recycling poop isn’t new, especially to fertilize lawns. In fact, it is the one of the oldest methods of nutrient and energy recycling in nature and in human history.

Classic examples of ‘re-uses’ of poop include:

1. Fuel. Poop is an excellent source of fuel. Genghis Khan and the Western cowboys used ‘cow chips’ for fire fuel. There is no firewood on the grass plains. Cow chips however were abundant. After drying, the manure patty could be easily cut in pieces or slices and carried in pouches. The chips can burn for a long time and provide a more controlled fire. Even now, sludge from sewer treatment plants or manure from large farms and ranches is burned to create electricity and supplied to the power grid.

2. Fertilizer. Manure, from livestock mainly, has always been ‘added back’ to the soil. Humus rich soils are renowned for their ability to yield larger fruits and vegetables with little to no chemicals used. In fact, the whole go organic craze is built on composting and humus - which includes using all usable waste, even human. You can buy humus rich soil or humus products at garden and farm supply stores. Some Super Go Green advocates are even encouraging people to purchase and use composting toilets so that they can shorten the cycle and do it yourself.

3. Animal Bedding. This one was new to me. I was reading a children’s book about Dairy Farms and after the sludge has been treated the left over solids can also be made into animal bedding. Reference: Clarabelle Making Milk and So Much More.

At the very least, this should give us pause. I hope that the next time you flush you think about what happens down the pipe. Farewell to "Flush and Forget" .

Precycling - Keeping Waste Outputs Low

Purchasing power is Power. A few weeks ago I was formally introduced to this concept of PRECYCLING by Ebony Mommy. In other words, thinking about our choices (food, shopping, travel, etc) before using them. Deciding what we will do and use so as NOT to create any waste, not even recyclable waste.

In today’s disposable-get-it-quick-and-easy-to-replace-for-cheap shopping environment a lot has been taken for granted. Our fore parents (who lived more rurally and closer to the land) were precyclers and recyclers. Nothing was wasted and everything was used. For one it was a matter of affordability. It was cheaper to keep something in working order and replace parts than get something new. Two it was a matter of convenience and sometimes safety. Accumulating trash near your living space was unhealthy and unsafe. But low, plastics and cheap electronics have been sent to make the world a better more enjoyable place. But with also went our great sense of conservation and frugality.

Now, we are faced with having to be more conservative. No where is this important than in our shopping decisions. And along with the option of paper or plastic grocery bags – or better yet, bring your own re-usable bag, now literature publishers are asking the same thing. Would you like that book in paper or plastic? And even for those of us who struggle to be environmentally conscious, it is hard to make the best decisions. My final word to you is to keep trying – keep being conservative, do everything you can to not waste anything – time, paper, water, energy, food – precycle if you can, and recycle everything you can.

Suburban Ecology as a Discipline of Study

The MRGP Center for Applied Suburban Ecology is a project of the Nature Conservancy in the State of New York.

Looks like the fields of Ecology and Conservation are really taking notice of the importance of studying human-ecology interactions in an entirely new way. Though I focus on Urban Ecology, in truth, it is hard to draw the line between urban and suburban areas. Human populations are growing spreading to much and so far that the line is fuzzy. I use the term city or urban areas very loosely, so urban and suburban areas and their ecologies overlap in my head. I'll also admit a lot of what I share can easily be found in suburban areas as well -- maybe you'll find more there, because presumably, there are alot more green spaces, parks, and yards in suburban areas as compared to dense cities. And no matter which side of the academic fence you come from, we all recognize that sustainability is the ultimate goal.

And the Mianus Gorge River Preserve have some suburban ecology internships and assistantships available for students in high school, undergraduate and graduate school.

Urban Wildlife Watch - Wooly Blue Violets

April Showers Bring May Flowers

This is the Wooly Blue Violet or the Viola sororia. It is an understory or ground cover plant that grows well in the shade. It is a native (US plant) grows thoughout many parts of the country - the midwest, out east. If you don't have a "fancy" lawn, then it will grow well on your front or back yard. The stalks of the flower and leaves can get up to 6-7 inches, about the length when most people consider cutting the grass. The flowers are small, about the diameter of a quarter and I can detect no odor. I haven't yet noticed any bees or ants trying to sip nectar from them. But aren't they pretty? Here are two more shots of them. Can't you tell I've been practicing my shots and lighting and such? Also, noticed the heart-shaped leaves of the violet - a signature physical trait.

Planting Trees for Peace - The Green Belt Movement

As an additional celebratory nod to Arbor Day, I would like to bring your attention to an International effort called the The Green Belt Movement. I first learned about this amazing program my first year of graduate school when my department co-sponsored a lecture by Dr. Wangari Maathai, the founder of this movement. She is a biologist, an environmentalist, and a human rights advocate. What started as a simple program, to get the women of rural Kenya to plant trees to address their dire needs for clean drinking water, stable soil for growing food and safety, and fire wood for fuel became a worldwide phenomenon. Before the Green Belt Movement, women were walking for hours to get to water sources and to gather fire wood, only to have their commute increase more and more each day. Trees, which were once more prominent in the landscape had been removed for new developments, were sorely missed and the ecological impacts (and the related political unrest) were growing. The recent NPR’s Speaking of Faith episode had and an interview with Dr. Wangari Maathai . At the lecture I attended years ago (before she won the Nobel Peace Prize) and on the radio, I must echo Krista Tippet’s sentiments, she is an awesome personality. I am honored that I had the opportunity to hear speak in person and meet her.

Plant and nurture your trees

Trees often seem so stalwart and strong. But they do require some tending, too. Newly planted trees are especially important. Young trees are vulnerable to animal predation or nibbling from deer, rabbits, field mice and insects.






This is a young tree that is infected with a colony of tent catepillars. I got this picture just in time, because the neighbors that take care of the trees and plants on this street and the medium where this street grows were planning to kill these 'pests' in the coming days. These insects -though apart of the natural process and food web - will kill young trees.





So you might need to help out young trees at first, but it is worth it.




If you are planting trees on your property be sure it is the Right tree in the right place. Also make sure you check on the health of tree and take care of it. And if possible, definitely plant trees and shrubs that are native to your region. Planting native trees require less care because they are adapted to the environmental conditions – the heat, humidity, cold, amount of water, and insects. Non-native trees have to be watered and perhaps pruned to control their growth.